Cigarettes Cut About 10 Years Off Life, 50-Year Study Shows

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61981-2004Jun22.html This article is from the Washington Post website by Marc Kaufman on the results of different types of researches conducted over a span of time. The author--Kaufman, presents the negative outcome of smoking supported by many facts, long term studies, and statistics. I think that this article is very factual and contains little or no bias as Kaufman constantly supported main idea with a lot of researched statistics. This article would also be great for informational purposes because Kaufman does not include any opinions, as his purpose was to inform the readers; not to persuade. Kaufman definitely uses logos throughout the story as he informs his readers by using many facts/stats. I think that Kaufman was writing this article to young adults, children, and smokers. The author presents his information in a Cause & Effect format; the smokers were first tested, after 50 years results were recorded. Kaufman's credentials may have affected this article positively, as he is a professional author for a well-known news web. He did not include a single opinion throughout the whole article. If I were to rate the accuracy for the story out of 10, I would definitely give this article a rating of 10; it was written by a professional author, and gives reliable facts. Also, the information-- smoking is unhealthy and shortens lives, is also portrayed on different lung corporations such as the American Lung Association and the National Lung Cancer Partnership. The information presented in this article is strong in facts. The author works for a well-known even though the website is the .com URL. The only catch about this piece is that this article was written in 2003, but it was on a study for over 50 years. I honestly don't think that this effects the article crucially, because facts are facts; just because this was written 8 years ago doesn't mean that the information presented is inaccurate. One part of the article that proved to me that the author was giving facts on was when he wrote "Doll began studying smoking among British doctors in 1951, and the research has continued every decade since, with the final study begun in 2001. At that time, almost 6,000 of the doctors first studied in 1951 were still alive. The effects of smoking show up especially starkly after age 60. At 70, the study found, 88 percent of nonsmokers were still alive, compared with 71 percent of smokers. And at age 80, 65 percent of nonsmokers were alive but only 32 percent of smokers were." This was one of the many parts in which clarified what I thought of the authors viewpoint was. This section from the article also assisted me on deciding if the article was accurate or not; as the author pulled a lot of information from colleges, research centers, and scientists. I would say all in all, this is a great article to get information about cigarettes. Though keep in mind that the author was only writing about the effects of cigarettes, not if they were being banned or not.